Should nonprofits play a larger

role in national electoral politics?

Robert Egger, keynote speaker at HANO’s annual meeting last November and president of the DC Central Kitchen, recently posted an opinion piece on nonprofit advocacy rights in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which sparked a debate among bloggers and columnists that take issue with Egger’s opinion that the rules governing nonprofit political activity need to change.

Egger wrote: “As America enters the first White House election cycle in decades with no incumbent president or vice president in the race, the nonprofit world cannot allow the country's future to be determined by a political process in which it has no role.”

Pablo Eisenberg, currently a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Pubic Policy Institute, rebutted Egger’s Chronicle of Philanthropy piece with one of his own (subscription required). He argues dropping laws that limit nonprofit political activity “would set a dangerous precedent and cause nonprofit groups to lose one of their most important qualities — their independence from government and elected officials.”

Further, Eisenberg argues, the problem is not the rules, but nonprofits’ lack of action: “Existing regulations give nonprofit groups enormous leeway in supporting and promoting activism and influencing the political system. The problem is that those organizations – charities and foundations alike – have failed to take advantage of the opportunities the rules afford them.”

Now, the issue is coming offline with a debate between Robert Egger and Pablo Eisenberg hosted by The Hudson Institute on Aug. 9 in Washington, D.C. Click here for the details. A transcript of this discussion will be posted online at http://pcr.hudson.org approximately one week after the event. If you would like to receive a rush copy of the transcript, please contact Krista Shaffer at krista@hudson.org.

On a related topic, OMB Watch is hosting a more technical panel discussion on IRS’ “Bright Line Rule” for Campaign Activities on Friday, Aug. 3. Experts will discuss such questions as:

• Has the IRS' more aggressive approach to enforcement of the ban on partisan activities by 501(c)(3) organizations created unanswerable questions for your organization?
• Ever wonder why IRS rules can't define permissible electoral activity as clearly as they do lobbying?
• What impact could the recent Supreme Court decision in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life have on IRS enforcement policies? Does the IRS enforcement process need to be changed?

See the invitation for details on how to participate via phone. Unfortunately for us in Hawai‘i, the discussion will be from 4 to 6 a.m. Hawai‘i Time.